States' plates in question

January 04, 2009|By Tribune news services

Across the country, the small metal plates affixed to cars have become the latest battleground for church-state disputes and questions of free speech.

*In South Carolina, a district court has temporarily halted the production of state-sponsored license plates that declare "I Believe" and feature an illustration of a cross superimposed on a stained-glass window. Florida earlier had considered an "I Believe" plate.

*In Vermont, an appeals court is mulling whether a vanity plate featuring John 3:16, the biblical verse about Jesus dying to save the world, should be permitted on that state's roads.

* In Texas, lawmakers are considering a bill to create a "Choose Life" specialty license plate that would raise money for women considering adoption.

States and plates

"The majority of Texans believe in the sanctity of life, and this license plate will give them a means to tell the world in a subtle but meaningful way, while providing support to pregnant women making the decision to choose adoption," Gov. Rick Perry said at a news conference last month. Nineteen other states, he said, offer similar plates. A case over whether Illinois must offer such plates is wending its way through the courts.

Vanity plates or plates with a message appear on more than 9.3 million U.S. motor vehicles, according to a joint study by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and License to Roam, which tracks vanity license plates at www.lcns2rom.com.

Illinois in top 3

The study found Virginia has the highest American vanity plate rate (16.19 percent), followed by New Hampshire (13.99 percent) and Illinois (13.41 percent). Texas has the lowest rate at 0.56 percent, according to the study.

Drawing the line

"It's hard to draw a line between what is government speech and what is private speech when it comes to license plates," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center in Washington. "Some people want to use their license plate to proclaim their beliefs and that puts the state in an awkward position because if they allow one message then they have to allow others."